Democrats select candidates for local election

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The Democratic party has begun to fill vacancies for Jackson County offices for the Nov. 3 general election.

Those filings include Jeff Walters of Seymour, who plans to run against Republican Paul Foster of Seymour for coroner.

Walters said he is looking for another way to serve the community after an injury forced him to retire from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

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“It’s hard to get away from that, doing it for that many years,” he said. “It’s something I always wanted to do. I got to do it. Unfortunately, I got injured one Tuesday morning. That has changed me from the day I got hurt until now, and it’s hard to let go of it. I liked helping people in the community and out in the county.”

Walters said he feels his 14 years of experience as a police officer will benefit him if elected.

“I’ve been in investigations, I’ve been in the detectives office, I’ve done a little bit of all of it and that’s a whole lot of what a coroner does,” he said. “I’ve worked all the different scenes as far as the dead bodies and the suicides. I’ve done a lot of investigations, and I think that’s a part of it.

“That’s a critical time in someone’s life,” he said. “I’ve had to make the death notifications, and that’s something that’s really hard to do, and I had to do several of those. It’s nothing that you want to do, but someone has to do it.”

Brad Smith of Seymour will be running opposite Republicans Dave Hall of Norman, John Nolting of Brownstown and Brett Turner of Crothersville for the three at-large county council seats.

Smith believes his experience with his business, Smith’s Tire Sales in Seymour, will lead him to success if elected.

“I am running for the office of council at-large because quite simply, I believe that it is possible to operate the county government more efficiently,” Smith said. “I have operated my business in Jackson County for over 25 years and am very aware how to operate and maintain a strong yet thrifty organization.”

He plans to decline the salary of around $7,553.52 annually offered to the winner.

“I am a strong proponent of small, bare minimal expenditure government,” he said. “If elected, I have chosen to forgo any salary or benefits from this position to plainly demonstrate that I am running strictly to make this county a better place to live and conduct business. It would be my honor to serve this community if they elect me to do so.”

John Schafstall of Seymour will be opposing Republican Bob Gillaspy of Seymour for District 2 county commissioner. The district serves the eastern third of the county, but commissioners are selected by all voters in the county.

Schafstall, who has served two four-year terms as District 2 county commissioner, said he looks to bring a balance between the two parties to the role.

“I believe that we should have two sides of the government deciding, not just one side deciding everything,” he said. “I know it has been a Republican time forever. Not that I’m different than anybody else, but I think we need more than one or two people running the county. We need to divide it up. That’s the way it has been set up since the beginning of time. You have two different opinions and you come together and you try to make it work.”

The Democratic party has until Tuesday to select candidates for the races for auditor, District 1 county commissioner, county surveyor, county treasurer and Jackson Superior Court I judge.

In 2019, the salary for coroner was $10,983, county commissioner was $22,946.67 and county council was $7,553.52.

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